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Boxer Guerrero held on New York airport gun charges

AP
8:01 p.m. EDT March 28, 2013

Robert Guerrero, shown in 2012, was arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport after police said he tried to bring a gun on a plane. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Guerrero was arrested Thursday, March 28, 2013, when he presented a locked gun box to a ticket agent during check-in.(Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP)

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Robert Guerrero was arrested Thursday after police say he tried to bring a gun on an airplane

NEW YORK (AP) — WBC welterweight champion Robert Guerrero was arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport on Thursday after police say he tried to bring a gun on a plane.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says that Guerrero, who is scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4 in Las Vegas, was arrested when he presented a locked gun box to a ticket agent during check-in. He was later released, pending a court appearance on May 14.

Brown said the box contained an unloaded .40-caliber handgun and three unloaded magazines. The gun was registered in California but was not legal to carry in New York, the district attorney's office said.

"I hope that Mr. Guerrero fights better than he thinks," Brown said in a statement. "For anyone who hasn't gotten the message, let me be crystal clear. You cannot bring an unlicensed weapon — loaded or unloaded — into this county or this city. And if you do, you will be arrested and face felony charges."

Guerrero, who was in New York to promote the fight with Mayweather Jr., was arraigned on charges including criminal possession of a firearm.

"Early this morning six-time and four-division world champion Robert Guerrero was checking in his luggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, bound for Las Vegas, and, as he was doing so, made sure to advise the authorities that they needed to be aware that he had a firearm, which was unloaded and in a locked safe box with his luggage to be checked.

"Guerrero was carrying no ammunition and was within his legal right to possess such firearm in the state in which he resides. He was then arrested. At an arraignment held before the New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, the court, after hearing the pertinent facts of the case, released Guerrero on his own recognizance.

"The next hearing in this matter is scheduled for after Robert's May 4 fight against Eight-Time and Five-Division World Champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather.

"We are very pleased Robert Guerrero was released on his own recognizance this afternoon in the wake of this incident and that he is on his way back to Las Vegas to continue training for his highly anticipated May 4 bout against Mayweather."